


black skies

by MiniNephthys



Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Request Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 13:23:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8058028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: Russell picks a Yama-Basho flower; Kantera does what he can.





	

Ever since Russell climbed out of that well a few minutes ago, his eyes have been darting to and fro, and he stops randomly, as if to listen to voices that aren’t there.

Kantera stops with him, the first few times without comment, but eventually enough is enough. “Russell. Look at me.”

Russell’s head jerks towards him. He says nothing.

“Are you alright?” Kantera asks.

Russell nods.

“...Did we not say that we could share anything with each other?” Kantera asks, and Russell freezes entirely.

Truthfully, Kantera doesn’t remember exactly when they agreed upon mutual honesty: if they did at all, it had to have been recently, since Russell only moved to the town this week. It simply felt like the right thing to say at that moment.

And the right thing it was. Russell takes a breath, then withdraws from his pack a white flower that Kantera is very familiar with.

“You shouldn’t be handling a Yama-Basho flower with bare hands!” Kantera says in a scolding tone. “Put that away right now.”

Russell puts it back in his pack at once, nearly dropping the flower in his haste. Once that’s done, he looks back at Kantera. “I’m sorry, doctor.”

As he looks down into Russell’s guilty expression, Kantera feels the sting of shame. It’s a familiar feeling. “...I apologize. I meant not to scare you, but only to keep you safe from that plant’s ill effects.” Russell says nothing, so Kantera goes on. “Have you been suffering from hallucinations since you picked it?”

“I think so,” Russell says. “It’s hard to tell sometimes what’s a hallucination and what’s not.”

“Such is the way of these things, I suppose.” Kantera sets a hand on Russell’s shoulder. “Well, the harm is already done… It should wear off within the hour, since you only had a limited exposure.”

Russell nods. “...Things will be fine,” he says, like he believes it.

“They will be, indeed,” Kantera says. “Come now.”

Russell sets off again, but only halfway reaches the gate before he stops to look down at something at his feet. Kantera looks, but nothing strikes him as out of the ordinary.

“Russell,” he murmurs. “What are you seeing right now?”

After a moment, Russell replies. “Black flowers. They’re telling me that I’m cursed. That I can never be forgiven for my sins.”

“What would a flower know about your sins?” Kantera asks, gently. “It has no right to tell you what you can and cannot be forgiven for. Pay it no mind.”

“...I will.” Russell tears his eyes away, and continues on the path out of Dragons’ Peak.

They deliver the Yama-Basho flower to a Cattie in Cloakpoint who’s been longing for one. Russell makes to take it out of his pack normally, but Kantera stops him.

“You’ve suffered too much from this plant already,” he says. “I’ll take it out for you.”

He’s not wearing gloves either, but he makes sure to be in as little direct contact with it as possible as he hands it over. Even then, some of the flower touches his skin.

The Cattie thanks them, and gives them a compass found in the garbage. While Russell uses the compass, Kantera closes his eyes to avoid seeing the laughing Jizo statues in every nook and cranny of Cloakpoint.

It doesn’t help. Their laughter rings in his ears.

Just for an hour, he reminds himself, and better him than Russell. Everything will be fine.


End file.
